


Gut Instincts

by respoftw



Series: The Adventures of Ace Dameron [10]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-17 05:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5856112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe had learned a long time ago to trust Asa's gut feelings; even when he had been a baby, still small and purpley-pink and wrinkled, he had reacted immediately to strangers with either wailing sobs or happy gurgles and it hadn't taken long for Poe and Asa's mother to realise that their sons assessment of a person was usually spot on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gut Instincts

**Author's Note:**

> I did warn you guys that this series would jump around in time a bit, right? 
> 
> A few people had asked for a little bit of Asa's backstory so I hope this satisfies.

Poe had learned a long time ago to trust Asa's gut feelings; even when he had been a baby, still small and purpley-pink and wrinkled, he had reacted immediately to strangers with either wailing sobs or happy gurgles and it hadn't taken long for Poe and Lyra, Asa's mother, to realise that their sons assessment of a person was usually spot on.

Of course, the first time they had taken Asa to his grandfather's house on Yavin 4 - when he was still small but much less wrinkled as well as sporting much more human coloured skin - they had soon realised the reason behind Asa's intuition.

Poe still remembers the way Asa's eyes had lit up the moment they had stepped within sight of that damn tree, how his five month old son had started squirming immediately to be let down and proceeded to astound them all by crawling for the first time, chubby arms and legs working confidently until he collapsed onto his padded bottom at the foot of the tree and starting babbling happily away to all who would listen, his hands waving around wildly like this was the best thing he had ever seen.

He doesn't know how strong Asa's potential is when it comes to the Force - in a lot of ways he hopes he never finds out - but time has proven that his ability to accurately assess the character of a person within moments of meeting them is never wrong.

It wasn't wrong when a three year old Asa, newly come to live with Poe in D'Qar, immediately took against one of the pilots in his squadron, a bumbling but charming young man that Poe had taken under his wing, who Poe soon discovered was selling information to the First Order.

He had been completely unable to explain to General Organa just how he had first come to suspect Ensign Roak of such treachery - not without exposing Asa's secret - but the evidence he had found was damning enough to stave off any further questions and if Leia sometimes looked at Poe and Asa with an understanding pity after that incident then Poe chose to ignore it.

The path of Ben Solo was one that Asa would never get the chance to take. Not if Poe had any control over it.

Poe had gained a mini reputation after Ensign Roak was kicked off the base. He supposes that the fact that Asa's instincts helped him ferret out three other bad seeds in the first six months after he arrived on D'Qar didn't help.

Fortunately, for every bad reaction Asa had to someone, there were a hundred good ones and a handful of great ones.

Jessika had arrived on D'Qar just three weeks after Ace had and Poe had barely been able to separate Ace from her. At first he thought it was the slight similarity to his mother that had Ace so enamoured with Jess. It had only been a month since Lyra had died after all.

Poe and Lyra had never loved each other - not in the usual way anyway. She had been a pilot too, a damn good one - and she and Poe had competed with each other all through basic training, each pushing the other to up their game and smash through their personal bests. They had been competitors, colleagues and, above all else, friends.  
  
The life of a fighter pilot was a risky one and, one drunken night after far too close a call in the sky of some backwater planet, Lyra had asked him to make a baby with her. After a flustered Poe had stammered a polite rejection and started rambling about how she didn't have the necessary parts to interest him, Lyra had laughed hysterically and slobbered a kiss on his cheek. "I know that, you idiot," she had said. "I wasn't asking you to have sex with me, I was asking for a donation."

One much less drunken conversation and nine months later, Asa Dameron had been welcomed into the world and Poe's entire life had changed for the better.

They had raised Ace together, as much as they possible could with such hectic lives. Lyra and he had tried to schedule long missions so that one of them was always there for Asa, either staying in D'Qar with Poe while Lyra left or staying with Lyra on her base while Poe risked his life for the greater good in an effort to make a better world for his son to live in.

Neither of them had ever really believed that they would leave Ace behind but the First Order made fools of them both when they shot Lyra's X-Wing, "Ace-1" - named after Asa -  out of the sky.

So, Asa had come to live with Poe permanently and then he had taken to trailing after Jessika, his stuffed bantha dragging across the ground as he followed her around the base on wobbly legs and Poe was terrified that he wasn't enough.

He had soon realised that Ace was treating her no differently than he treated Snap or any other one of his "Aunties" or "Uncles" on base and their makeshift family had grown by another member as soon as Poe had taken his head out of his ass and realised just how amazing Jess was.

After five years, it's become just another fact about Asa in Poe's mind. Stuffs fingers in his mouth when he's upset; has an unfortunate habit of laughing so hard he makes himself sick; NOT allowed honey cakes after 4pm; has the biggest, kindest heart that Poe has ever seen; master of the puppy dog eyes as a method of getting what he wants (something Poe is attributable to how damn cute he is rather than any latent Force talent...he hopes anyway); can see into the centre of a person and know whether they are inherently good or not; truly terrible at drawing, not that Poe will ever admit it.

For every hundred good reactions and dozen great reactions and occasional bad reaction there has only ever been one gut instinct that truly mattered to Poe.

Poe will always remember Ace's first meeting with Finn.

Finn had been unconscious, in a medically induced coma to help heal the damage to his shoulder and spine and Poe had been at his bedside every moment he wasn't with Asa, needing to be there, needing Finn to know someone cared even if he wasn't awake to see it, and then General Organa was ordering him on another mission and Poe was yelling in her face.

He hadn't even known Asa was in the room until he felt a small hand tug at his sleeve.

"I'll stay with him Papa," Ace had said. "It can be my very special mission. I'll look after him and make sure he's safe and warm and I can read to him and tell him stories and he'll not be lonely."

Poe's chest had ached as he looked into Asa's earnest brown eyes. "You'd do that for me, buddy?"

Ace had shaken his head. "I'll do it for Finn. He's the bestest. I can tell."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> As ever, if anyone has any ideas for things they'd like to see in this series - please let me know either in the comments or message me on [tumblr](http://buffycuddlespigs.tumblr.com/ask)


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